Possibilities of anaerobic fermentation of food waste on municipal wastewater treatment plants

In presented work, long-term operation of a laboratory anaerobic reactor processing food waste is discussed. Food waste is potentially well available municipal bio waste with light biodegradability and with year-long production mostly in big cities. About 200 days of laboratory work were focused on characterization of tested food waste quality as well as on feasibility of biogas production from this bio waste. Food waste, collected from the university canteen, was characterized as feedstock with very high organic content (COD = 265 000 mg/L, VS/TS = 93 %) and with high hydrolysis decay. Mixed anaerobic reactor was operated under mesophilic conditions with organic load values up to 3.0 gVS/ L. d. Average specific biogas production from food waste was 0.94 L/gVS with methane content of 52.8 %. The collected food waste is considered to be a challenging and promising source for co-fermentation and biogas production on real wastewater treatment plants in Slovak towns. Index Terms biogas, bio waste, food waste, waste water treatment sludge, wastewater treatment plant.